The day Ed Miliband announced he was stepping down as Labour leader turned out to be a pretty important one for British politics, and not just for that reason.
It was May 8, 2015, and Labour’s showing in the previous day’s General Election was disappointing enough to warrant a resignation at the top.
It also happened to be the first day in Parliament for a few recognisable names. Future Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Future Prime Minister Boris Johnson, back from a spell as Mayor of London. And, most significantly for Miliband, future Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Five years later, it was Sir Keir who would bring his predecessor-but-one back to the front bench following his own ascent to the top of the party.
Despite his relative youth – at 55, he’s seven years younger than the prime minister – the energy secretary is most associated with an era of politics that feels impossibly distant: pre-Brexit, pre-Trump, pre-Covid.
‘Lots of the people I was in politics with when I was leader, George Osborne, David Cameron, Nick Clegg, are no longer around for various reasons,’ Miliband told Metro.
‘And I’m not criticising them. I’m still in this because I think I can make a contribution.’
The energy brief may not traditionally be among the most coveted in the cabinet, but Miliband has ensured it gets plenty of attention thanks to his drive to blast projects through the normal planning process in an ambitious effort to decarbonise the vast majority of the UK’s power by 2030.
Last month, he unveiled the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, setting out exactly how he hopes to create the conditions where that target will be met. Amid the procedural shakeup – which will still rely on the private sector to crank out projects – he has assured communities impacted by new sites that they’ll benefit.
He said: ‘This is an issue I really, really care about.
‘You know, there are some hard challenges here to tackle these issues, but it’s something I really, really care about.’
Even as soon as the end of 2025, Miliband believes the fruits of his plan will be tangible. We’ll have ‘lower energy bills’, ‘much greater energy security’, ‘good jobs all around the country’, and ‘a sense that Britain is back and leading the world when it comes to tackling the climate crisis’.
The issue of the environment is particularly important to young people. Does that mean we could see a return of the Milifandom, the group of mostly young women who built an online fanbase during his spell as Labour leader and dubbed him Milibae?
‘I think the Milifandom have sort of grown up now,’ he stuttered.
‘I used to joke that the Milifandom was a case of mistaken identity, but, you know, I’m just trying to do the right things and trying to help deliver on the big, bold change that the country needs.’
At the start of December, Miliband was the butt of a wisecrack by Wes Streeting at a Westminster awards do. Addressing Kemi Badenoch’s recent behaviour, the health secretary told her: ‘Carry on like this and you’ll be energy secretary in ten years’ time.’
Miliband took the joke in good humour, saying it was ‘part of the fun of those awards’.
He recalled his own speech after receiving an award for political speech of the year at the same event in 2013, in which he read from a tongue-in-cheek Sunday Sport article which accused his father Ralph of killing a cat by running over it on his bike.
It came after a series of less light-hearted newspaper stories about his dad, a reminder of the unpleasant aspects of being a major party leader.
Asked if that experience has helped him at all to make his current ‘contribution’, Miliband would rather not say.
‘I think I’ll let other people make that judgment,’ he said.
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